C8 Sciences has raised the first part of a $1.1 million fundraise in a move the CEO hopes will help it advance product development and build its customer base.

The
goal is to sharpen working memory. The company’s name actually derives
from the eight core cognitive capacities of the brain. In an interview in the Hartford Courant last year, CEO Ken Coleman said working memory was a better predictor of school success than IQ tests.

The
C8Pro tool combines computer gaming with physical exercise. It collects
data on user performance so healthcare professionals can track
performance. It is based on the concept of neuroplasticity -’ that the
brain can dynamically grow, change, heal and accomplish complex tasks
that sometimes seem impossible, according to the website.

Dr.
Bruce Wexler’s approach to ADHD is based on his work with adults with
schizophrenia. He developed computer-based brain exercises to target and
remediate the neural systems that are responsible for helping people
learn, think, act and behave. By applying this to children, whose brains
are at a much earlier stage of development and more plastic, there’s
the potential for a more significant behavior change.

In an emailed response to questions, Coleman said it’s in the
process of raising seed capital. Currently in the early stages of
commercialization, it hopes to use fresh capital to complete its
build-out of its next product releases and our sales and marketing
program.

“Our milestones from this round are to have
enough referenceable customers by the end of 2013 to begin rapid
scale-up in the winter selling season. We also expect to be raising a
next (series A) round of capital in early 2014.”

He
added that the company’s funding has come from angels and backing from
Connecticut Innovations, the state venture capital organization that
helps startups.

The company has two founders. Wexler is a senior
research scientist and professor emeritus of psychiatry with Yale School
of Medicine and director of the Neurocognitive Research Laboratory at
the Connecticut Mental Health Center. Jinxia Dong, a director of the
Research Center for Sports Studies and Society at Peking University in
China, helped develop the physical exercise component of the program.

The
idea is to have a non-pharmaceutical alternative to improving outcomes
for children diagnosed with ADHD. Part of the financial groundwork for
the company was laid with a $4 million grant from the NIH.